Talk to the Siblings

March 18, 2010

Podcast Ep. 124: Twenty Years of Art & Skulduggery with TONY HARRIS

(.99)

Comic artist and illustratorTony Harris has been makin' pictures for a good long while now. Two decades to be exact. And depending on who you talk to, he can be described in a lotta ways. Here's what we found in our interview with him.

He's a passionate artist who's committed to his craft, loves this medium, a devoted family man and he wears his heart on his sleeve. Yes, he has his rough edges and bad days like we all do, but don't define him by just that stuff. Pick up and read his new artbook.

After 20 years in the only profession he's ever wanted to work in, Art & Skulduggery, is a massive tome that covers his earliest work in comics, all the way up to the immaculate conceptions of current day (from the rooter to the tooter, like the old folks say).

Available in March from Desperado Publishing through their new IDW imprint, Tony and his publisher, Joe Pruett, have put together a must-have for old and new fans of this industry's original pirate.

Inside, you'll find all the goodies a die-hard Harris follower will wanna see: Nightmare on Elm Street, Starman, Obergeist, Spiderman, Ex-Machina, War Heroes, license stuff, prelims, pictures of family and friends, convention photos, tales of Jolly Roger, personal work, unpublished work and all of it peppered with lively and colorful commentary by the man himself. It's a true look at "a brilliant career", as Tony's ex-studiomate Cully Hamner once said. We agree.

Tony revealed in our conversation with him that he got a bunch of friends and professional peers to write a few words about him for Art & Skulduggery. Only a handful of the writings made it into the final edit, but it's an awesome handful: Adam Hughes, Dave Johnson, James Robinson, Tim Bradstreet and the late Jim Royal, just to name a few.

Everyone speaks openly and honestly about knowing the guy, working with him and almost all the way down the line, about how much they respect his talent and body of work (and it doesn't turn into just a big circle jerk either—honesty is a sword that cuts on both sides.)

For us, Tony was a lot of fun to talk to and seemed to be a true fan at heart—which is cool. Speaking of which, there's an Easter egg about Christopher Walken at the very end of the show. It's priceless!

Enjoy the conversation, 'Nation and pick up Art & Skulduggery wherever you can. It's a thick-ass book (ha).